Skirt-hoop



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE,

M. LANDENBERGER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SKIRT-HOOP.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,720, dated June 29, 1858i.

To all whom 'it may con-cem:

Be it known that I, MARTIN LANDENBER- GER, of the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Hooped Skirts; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the let'- ters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of the hooped skirts, used by ladies to impart to their dresses a flowing and graceful expansion; and my improvement consists in constructing such skirts of a. knitted fabric, with which are inter-looped any convenient number of strips of tempered steel, or other elastic material, as fully set forth hereafter.

The object of my invent-ion is to produce cheap and comfortable hooped skirts, capable of readily accommodating themselves to the sitting or reclining position of the wearer, and of instantly recovering their proper form, when the wearer assumes a standing posture.

In order to enable others to carry out my improvement, I will now proceed to describe the manner of manufacturing the same.

The accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specification, represents in perspective a hooped skirt, manufactured in the following improved manner: An ordinary knitting machine, with two straight rows of the usual knitting needles, is first prepared, and furnished with the cotton or woolen threads for knitting the common or other looped fabrics, the machine being long enough to form a fabric equal in length to the circumference of the largest hoop in the skirt'. A series of loops, sufficient to form a fringe or border for the bottom of the skirt, having been knit-ted, an elastic strip of steel, brass, whalebone, cane, or other substance employed in ordinary hooped skirts, is introduced into the knitting machine, in such a manner, as to become interlocked in one of the rows of loops, or, in other words, so that the fabric may be knitted over the strips.

After a suitable length of ordinary knitted fabric has been formed by the machine,

1 another strip is introduced, and so on, until the fabric is of the required length, and has the required number of strips. Instead of interlooping the elast-ic strips directly with the fabric, a series of tubes, large enough to admit the strips, may be introduced into the machine, and knitted over, so that, when the fabric with the tubes is removed from the machine, the elastic strips may be inserted into the tubes, and the latter withdrawn, leaving the strips behind.

When the fabric is completed, the opposite ends of the elastic strips, (which decrease in length from the bottom upward) are connected together, with the exception of two or three of the upper ones. The ends of the fabric are also connected together for some distance from the bottom, leaving an opening C, at the top, in order to afford facilities for removing and replacing the skirt, which now assumes the form, represented in the accompanying drawing.

The skirt terminates at the top in a gum elastic band B, which is furnished with a buckle or other fastening for securing it to the waist of the wearer. A strap or band D, in front of the skirt, extends from the top to the bottom, and is furnished with kooks and eyelet holes at such intervals, that any two or more of the hoops may be brought nearer to each other in front, or the whole front of the skirt may be retained in an elevated position when necessary. Smaller bands E extend from the waist band B to the ends of the third or fourth hoop, and are furnished with eyelet holes for attachment to hooks secured to the waist band in the locality of the wearers hips. As these adjustable bands form no part of my present application, it will be unnecessary here to give a detailed explanation of them. It will suiiice to observe, that their object is to change the position o-f the hoops in relation to each other, thereby enabling the wearer to increase or diminish the protuberance of the hoop in any direction desired. i

It will be at once seen, that the objects alluded to in the recital are fully attained by this mode of manufacturing hooped skirts.

The process of knitting is rapid, and but little interruption takes place in presenting the elastic strips or the tubes, above alluded to, to the machine as the process is continued. This, together with the fact, that but a comparatively trifling amount of material is used in producing the fabric, tends to the production of a cheap article. The looped fabric too is of such a yielding character and accommodating nature, compared with the woven fabric, to which hoops are usually attached, that each hoop can act independently of the next, and accommodate itself to the sitting or reclining position assumed by the wearer, the loops of the fabric, however, being so uniform, that, when the wearer assumes a standing position, the hoops will, by their own weight, recover their proper position with respect to each other. 

